Foodwize has opened registrations for the third edition of STHIRA, a national competition for university students working on food systems, nutrition, and sustainability.

The competition is being held in collaboration with the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Italy. This year's edition introduces a virtual incubation programme for selected teams to further develop their projects after the competition.

Students from any academic discipline can participate in teams of two or three. Entries are invited on themes including nutrition, local food systems, food supply chains, indigenous food practices, urban food planning, and related areas.

Registrations will close on July 31. The semi-finals are scheduled to be held online in September, while the final round and prototype exhibition will take place in Bengaluru in November.

Selected teams will receive support for prototype development, project validation, and implementation planning through the incubation programme.

The first two editions received more than 200 submissions from over 300 students representing 45 universities and 18 disciplines. Outreach activities covered more than 125 cities and 400 colleges.

Previous projects addressed issues such as food waste, rooftop farming, post-harvest losses, indigenous food crops, and nutrition.

According to Srijata Sengupta, who is the co-founder and partner at Foodwize, the program is meant to help students who have been working on food-related matters.

The shortlisted candidates will get mentorship as well as interaction with food industry professionals, sustainability experts, and entrepreneurs. The winning candidates will get monetary rewards, and selected projects will proceed to incubation.

STHIRA 2026 program targets university students all over India and deals with food production, nutrition, sustainability, and resource management-related projects.